QLD

2011 Fellows announced

Coral, Cancer Capsules & Conservation


Three $20,000 L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships for 2011 were awarded to talented Australian women in science on Tuesday, 23 August 2011.

Then on 24 August the three fellows visited the Australian Synchrotron and presented their research to 160 female students in year’s 9-11 for the L’Oréal Australia Girls in Science forum.

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The complex life of coral

Tracy Ainsworth James Cook University Coral interactions more complex than ever suspected. Dr Tracy Ainsworth’s research is changing our understanding of the life of the tiny coral animals that built Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. Her work comes at a critical time for the future of coral reefs—threatened by a warming ocean and by coral […]

Can we save the tiger with mathematics?

Eve McDonald-Madden The University of Queensland Turning to mathematics to allow us to make smarter conservation decisions. The diversity of life on Earth underpins the global economy. But we’re losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate and human-induced climate change will threaten more species—up to 37 per cent of the plants and animals with which we […]

2011 award ceremony photos

The three L’Oréal Australia For Women In Science Fellows for 2011 received their awards on Tuesday 23 August at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

A professional photographer took pictures of the Fellows on the night, you can see some of the images below. Click on the picture to access a high resolution version of the image.

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Five years of L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellows

2011 marks the fifth year that L’Oréal Australia will award its For Women in Science Fellowships to Australian early-career female scientists.

Since its inception in 2007, the Fellowships, worth $20,000 each, have been awarded to 14 outstanding female scientists who have used the award to increase their impact in their chosen field of science, provide support to managing both families and lab work, and jumpstart their independent careers in science.
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Fighting famine with botany

A family of plant hormones, known as the strigolactones has provided researchers with a new lead in the fight against one of the world’s most devastating plant parasites, the African witchweed or voodoo plant, the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne will be told today.
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Shaping the plants of the future

A hormone that determines the size and shape of crops could improve harvests, and help in the control of  a vampire plant according to Queensland researchers presenting their work today at the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Australia. [continue reading…]

Species affected by climate change: to shift or not to shift?

Issued by CSIRO Ref 11/78

Relocating species threatened by climate change is a radical and hotly debated strategy for maintaining biodiversity. In a paper published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United States Geological Survey present a pragmatic decision framework for determining when, if ever, to move species in the face of climate change. [continue reading…]

Samurai of the sea

SawfishWhat sawfish really do with their saw


Scientists thought that sawfish used their saw to probe the sea bottom for food.  But a Cairns researcher has found that these large (5 metres or more) and endangered fish actually use the saw to locate and dismember free-swimming fish – using a sixth sense that detects electric fields. She’s in Melbourne this week as a winner of Fresh Science. [continue reading…]